In this article he describes Gaza as a ghetto and equates it to the real ghettos of Nazi Germany. These are the responses he got from some of the readers of this shameful article. Two of the responders are holocaust survivors!
"This column made me very angry. The comparison of the two ghettoes is beyond being anti-Semitic — it is the most vile expression of hatred toward the Jewish people and an insult to the victims of the Holocaust in general. As a Holocaust survivor, I am greatly injured and insulted
I find it difficult to utter Warsaw Ghetto and Gaza in the same breath. The Warsaw Ghetto was designed by the Nazis for annihilation through starvation, disease and finally total extermination of its inhabitants. Gaza is an armed camp waiting for missiles to arrive so it can attack Israel. If Gaza wasn’t blockaded, those destructive missiles would be in their hands overnight supplied by their proxy allies Iran and Syria.
If the people of Gaza experience hardship, it is brought upon them by the Hamas leadership, not Israel.
Nathan Leipciger, co-president, Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors, former prisoner of Auschwitz, number 133628, Toronto."
"My parents were both in the Lodz Ghetto. The horrors were unimaginable, and then came Auschwitz for them. So I know that for Kalle Lasn to try and equate any Jewish ghetto established by the Nazis with Gaza is ludicrous. And shameful. He does more than spit on the dead and decaying Jewish bodies rounded up daily during the years in the real ghettos. Freedom of expression is a cheap journalistic trick used to sell a few stupid magazines. Millions of Jews from the ghettos have no graves and no mourners to cry over their dead bodies.
No one is ever left to die in the streets of Gaza, as they were in the Nazi-controlled ghettos. And thousands of rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza, with not a word from the world’s liberal-focused media. Shame on Mr. Lasn.
David Saul, Toronto."
"I visited the Gaza Strip in 2003, during the 'occupation' stage. I also volunteered for Magen David Edom in Ashdod, just north of Gaza, and have had the opportunity to meet many Palestinian people.
What I fail to understand is Kalle Lasn’s lack of recognition that the Gaza Strip is today ruled by Hamas, a self-identified extremist, fundamentalist organization hellbent on death and destruction. Surely he could choose better friends to stick up for. And yes, not all Gazans identify with Hamas, yet they elected them.
Eli Jakubovic, Hamilton, Ont." (source)
"I am revolted by Adbuster’s shameless comparison of the Warsaw Ghetto to Gaza. My family and I were in the Warsaw Ghetto until the time of the uprising. After the Ghetto, I was taken to Majdanek, where my mother, father and sister were murdered. I was in Buchenwald and I was in Theresienstadt. All this happened because we were Jewish. There was no other reason. Comparing Jews today to the Nazis of yesterday is and always will be anti-Semitic.
The editor of Adbusters should understand that I have experience: I know Nazis — and deceivers — when I see them.
Pinchas Gutter, Toronto."
"As an author who has written a number of articles on the Warsaw Ghetto, I was disheartened by Kalle Lasn’s shoddy attempt to draw similarities between the current troubles in the Middle East and the horrific events that took place in Warsaw between October, 1940, and April, 1943. During that period, over 100,000 ghetto residents died from starvation and disease. At least 300,000 were shipped to Treblinka where they were exterminated. Another 14,000 were killed during the Ghetto uprising.
These figures point to the ludicrousness of Mr. Lasn’s comparison.
Furthermore, Mr. Lasn admits 'the stated goal of Israel has never been the complete destruction of the Palestinian people,' but he conveniently fails to mention that it has been the goal of the PLO and Hamas to oversee the destruction of the state of Israel.
Kenneth Sherman, liberal arts professor, Sheridan College."
"Kalle Lasn sets out to provide historically challenged readers with basic facts regarding the Warsaw ghetto. He fails. No, Mr. Lasn, the German Wehrmacht did not reach Warsaw in October 1939, it reached it in September. He writes that when two German soldiers were killed in a local restaurant, 106 men in the ghetto were shot in reprisal. No, the German soldiers were shot not in Warsaw, but in Wawer, and the 106 victims were not Jews, but Poles and they most certainly were not shot in the ghetto. A resistance movement in the ghetto was not organized during the Soviet advance, but in 1942, at the height of the German advance. The ghetto uprising had absolutely nothing to do with the Soviets but with the imminent liquidation of the Jewish quarter by the Germans in April 1943.
I have rarely seen a more sloppy and error-filled overview of this tragedy.
Jan Grabowski, professor of history, University of Ottawa."
"I’m not Jewish, but I believe Jews and Israel have a right to exist. Nobody wanted Jews in the Second World War, even though we knew they were being sent to their extinction. Muslim nations have expelled many hundreds of thousands of Jews and Israel has accepted them. Free speech is important, but comparing Gaza to the Warsaw ghetto is just lying.
M. Watson, Toronto."
"Kalle Lasn of Adbusters is recycling hateful ignorance. Kudos to Shoppers Drug Mart for pulling his magazine off its shelves.
Susan Speigel, Toronto"
"Kalle Lasn forgets the thousands of rockets fired indiscriminately from Gaza into Israeli cities. He forgets to mention that Gaza has a border with Egypt, when he notes that Israel controls 'all of Gaza borders and airspace.' He forgets to mention that after 38 years of Israeli occupation, the population of Gaza has more than doubled. If Mr. Lasn does not like to be called an 'anti-Semite' then he should proudly accept the title of 'liar.' Leave the memories of the poor souls of the Warsaw Ghetto alone and have an honest look at Gaza.
Michael Almeida, Toronto."
"Since January 2009, Israel has sent more than one million tons of aid to the Gaza Strip. In 2004, The Economist noted that 23.9% of the male population and 42.5% of the female population in Gaza are obese. Maybe it’s also Israel’s fault that they are giving them too much food?
Adir Dishy, president Hasbara@York, Thornhill, Ont."
"The chief difference between the Warsaw Ghetto and Gaza is that the German intent was to see all Jews gathered and murdered. Israel would love nothing more than to live freely with the population of Gaza and to see its residents thrive in peace. While Jews in Warsaw prayed to seek an unobtainable future of freedom and life, Gazans on the other hand have been their own worst enemies in bringing ‘ghettoization’ upon themselves.
Joel L. Goldman, Toronto." (source)
Kalle Lasn's magazine "AdBusters" was pulled from a major Canadian chain after this.
